


carelessly growing up

by stefonzolesky



Category: Arrested Development
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-12
Updated: 2018-05-12
Packaged: 2019-05-05 15:53:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14622021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stefonzolesky/pseuds/stefonzolesky
Summary: “No,” Gob insists. He won’t meet Michael’s eyes. “No, I’m not drunk. You’re just mean.”





	carelessly growing up

Michael feels like there’s a wall built up inside of his head when he walks in on his older brother, lips locked with the very man he swore to hate forever.

Gob, in the past, had gone on rants about Tony Wonder. Michael never considered it to be anything more than blind, obdurate belief that he was on the same level as this magazine-cover worthy magician, but staring ahead of him at the two men on the couch of the model home, he finds himself rethinking every single thing he had ever thought about his brother’s detestation for the man.

He doesn’t say anything, at first, focusing on trying to figure out this odd sense of déjà vu that’s come over him, but a cough rises up in his throat and it breaks apart the blatant, crass make-out session that the two magicians are partaking in right before his eyes.

“Shit,” Tony swears quietly, and Gob shoves him away as what seems like a reflex.

“I--” Gob tries to say something, but it looks like he’s choking on his own words. Tony grabs his shirt off the ground and mumbles something that faintly resembles an apology as he rushes out of the door.

“Gob?” Michael asks, because he can’t think of anything else to do. He expects Gob to say something stupid, like ‘it was just an illusion,’ or ‘you’re mistaken,’ but instead, he sinks to the ground and buries his face in his hands.

“Gob?” Michael asks again. Gob doesn’t move.

“Why did you have to come home?” He asks. His voice cracks. “You said… you said you’d be out, you didn’t--...” His voice breaks again. He falls silent.

“I forgot something,” Michael says quietly, tone dangerously stationary.

Gob sucks in a breath through his teeth. “Just… Get it and go. Just go. I need you to go.”

“Gob,” Michael echoes himself, and he really wishes he could say something else. He takes a hesitant step closer, like he’s addressing a frightened animal. He crouches down in front of his brother. “Talk to me, pal.”

And normally, he would be rubbing something like this in Gob’s face, all smug and “I knew it,” but Gob looks too hurt, too broken. Michael can’t bring himself to be smug. He frowns and places a hand on his brother’s shoulder.

Gob shakes his hand away and mumbles a somewhat garbled version of, “You’re just gonna… make fun of me, and be all… stupid Michael. Tell me I’m stupid, I’m not stupid.”

Michael frowns deeper. “Are you drunk?”

“No,” Gob insists. He won’t meet Michael’s eyes. “No, I’m not drunk. You’re just _mean.”_

Michael falters. He doesn’t want to object -- not while Gob is in this fragile state, at least -- but he can’t help the loud, _“What?”_ that slips off his tongue, followed without thinking by, “Are you fucking kidding me? _I’m_ mean?”

“Yeah, you’re mean,” Gob snaps. He draws back, sniffling quietly.

Instead of arguing, Michael says flatly, “That was Tony Wonder,” and points towards the door.

“Yeah,” Gob says.

“Yeah,” Michael echoes his brother. “You were making out with him.”

“Yeah,” Gob says again.

“Looked like it wasn’t the first time,” and really, Michael is grasping at straws here for more information.

“Yeah.” Gob isn’t blinking. He’s like a broken record. His breathing is growing quicker, quicker, quicker and before Michael realizes exactly what’s happening, he hears Gob gasping for air.

“Woah, woah, woah,” Michael says. He tentatively places his hands on both of Gob’s shoulders, probably with a little too much pressure, and Gob jerks away like he’s been burned. “Gob, c’mon.”

“Would you just _go?”_ Gob snaps.

Michael falters, starting to steam a little. “I’m trying to help you, asshole!”

Gob just shakes his head in a distraught manner, and Michael quickly realizes that calling his brother an asshole while he’s on the verge of fucking losing it is _not_ the way to go, so he consciously softens his eyes, softens his voice, and says, “Hey, pal. C’mon. You’re fine, alright?”

Michael frowns when his brother demonstrates that he obviously wants to go further away from him, but doesn’t have the energy. Michael replaces his hands on Gob’s shoulders.

“Fine,” Gob caves. “You can stay. But -- But, not because I want you to. Because I don’t want you… blabbing to Mom and Dad.”

“I won’t,” Michael says quietly, trying not to let on that he was definitely going to before Gob said that. “I wouldn’t.”

Gob sniffs quietly, wiping his nose awkwardly with the back of his hand. “You’re just always so mean about everything.”

And Michael says, “I’m sorry you feel that way,” which Gob probably doesn’t realize was the wrong thing to say, and then, “Are we gonna talk about this?”

“Is there anything to talk about?” Gob chokes out. “You saw what you saw, and that’s-- that’s-- that’s--”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Michael interrupts. “Shh… Breathe.”

Gob sucks in air through his teeth, desperate. “I’m _breathing,”_ He insists between desperate breaths. “I’m-- I’m breathing-- Michael, I’m--” He starts to babble nonsense through tears.

“Gob!” Michael shouts, completely involuntarily, because _fuck!_ “Can’t you just -- calm down?”

“Michael, _please!”_ Gob blurts, and honestly, it’s the only time Michael remembers his brother saying ‘please,’ so he stops in his tracks.

There’s a heavy silence that Michael cracks with an inopportune, “Are you in love with him?”

Gob breathes loudly, falling back from his panic a little bit, and admits, “Maybe.”

Michael frowns. Something about the idea of Gob being happy… unsettles him. It makes him feel like something is going against the laws of nature.

“Oh,” is all he can voice, at first, then followed by a tight, “That’s… nice.”

“Yeah,” Gob says. His teeth scrape against his tongue, and it’s so dry that Michael can hear the noise it makes. “Do you really have to stick around?”

“I just…” Michael sighs. “I wanna figure out why this is all so _familiar.”_

Gob tenses up a little bit.

“I don’t know,” He claims. His voice is flat. “I have to go find Tony. I need you to go, so I can… So I can… So I can.”

“I get it,” Michael says, just to save his brother the time. He feels like he’s watching himself from afar. “I’ll leave.”

 

Gob calls Michael’s phone the next day at eight o’clock in the morning. Michael debates not answering it, but he ultimately gives in, answering with a sigh-filled, “Hello?”

“Hey.” Gob’s voice is tense. “Listen, can I talk to you?”

Michael frowns at the way his brother’s voice cracks over the phone and tries to refrain from being snappy at him after everything that happened the day prior. It’s the guilt that makes him agree.

 

When Gob shows up at the model home, Michael can’t help but ask him, “Where have you been staying when you’re not here?”

“I’m mostly here,” Gob admits. “When I’m not here, I’m… I’m at Tony’s.”

Michael presses his lips into a thin line.

“Right,” He says. He doesn’t know what he expected.

“Listen,” Gob decides to start off. He’s standing in front of Michael, steady on his feet but looking more vulnerable and helpless than ever. “If you have a problem with me being… gay-ish, or whatever… you can just come out and say it.”

“What?” Michael scoffs, trying to come off as incredulous, in a _how could you ever think that?_ kind of way.

“You don’t have to act like you’re fine with it if you’re not,” Gob says, a little more elaborate. “I mean, it hurts--” He gives a weak laugh. “--but I’d rather you didn’t lie to me.”

Michael’s eyebrows knit together. “When did you grow up?” He can’t help but ask.

Gob frowns.

“I think,” He says, trying to place his words perfectly. His nose scrunches up in thought. “I think I grew up when you stopped.”

It makes sense, logically, in Michael’s head. He just doesn’t want to believe it.


End file.
